How do your present the turkey legs for serving? Usually, Gene has cut the leg off and put in on the platter with the thighs and sliced breast meat. I always hated seeing that cave man looking leg sitting there, but figured that was just me being silly and said nothing. This year, a twelve year old grandson decided he wanted a leg. He rarely finishes any food he takes and is a very poor eater. Per doctors orders, family is under instruction not to say anything to him about his food habits, so no one said anything. He took a few bites and came into contact with all those long, spiny bones typical in turkey legs and that ended that adventure for him. The next day, I took the meat off the bone and put it with the turkey meat we were keeping for our soup. That day at lunch, he asked for his leg again and I told him I cut the meat off the bone for him. He would have nothing to do with it.It got me to wondering if anyone really enjoys eating the turkey leg, given all those pesky bones, and do you present it cut off the bones?

There is never enough dark meat to go around. I slice up the turkey and put it into a chaffing dish (a la hotel buffet), and I used to segregate the meats into different halves of the dish with white at the top and dark at the bottom. The dark would always disappear first leaving a dish of just breast meat that everyone complained about. This year I sliced and alternated dark with white, with the bony pieces (wing joints, thighs with a bit of meat and that gristly knob on top, around the sides. Worked like a charm. There wasn't time in line to pick over the meat to get just the pieces you wanted. People had to scoop and keep it moving. All the turkey was eaten!

"...To undersalt deliberately in the name of dietary chic is to omit from the music of cookery the indispensable bass line over which all tastes and smells form their harmonies." -- Robert Farrar Capon

To this day my dad still has one of the turkey legs whole. With all those weird, thin bones that are in teh legs I find taking the meat off of the bone nearly impossible. It ends up a mess that is much worse than picking the whole thing up at one time.

Jo Ann Henderson wrote:There is never enough dark meat to go around. I slice up the turkey and put it into a chaffing dish (a la hotel buffet), and I used to segregate the meats into different halves of the dish with white at the top and dark at the bottom. The dark would always disappear first leaving a dish of just breast meat that everyone complained about. This year I sliced and alternated dark with white, with the bony pieces (wing joints, thighs with a bit of meat and that gristly knob on top, around the sides. Worked like a charm. There wasn't time in line to pick over the meat to get just the pieces you wanted. People had to scoop and keep it moving. All the turkey was eaten!

Very clever!

My wine shopping and I have never had a problem. Just a perpetual race between the bankruptcy court and Hell.--Rogov

I just watched the Turkey Feast episode of Jacques and Julia last week. His method of turkey prep prior to roasting was really educational to me. He took off the leg quarters and nipped just the last inch or so off the leg end (then went on to bone the thigh and stuff it prior to roasting) and he made mention at that point of the persnickity tendon/bones saying that, even with a pliers, to attempt to remove them prior to cooking is futile, but when roasted to completion they easily pull out slick and clean... making either carving or "Henry VIII'ing" them much more manageable.